In a deep cave somewhere, the Insect Demon paced around in its spot, its eyebrows furrowed tightly in the middle.
"He's but a mere mortal, so how can his martial arts and vital energy be so powerful? Despite being the advent of the True Dragon, he didn't repeatedly cultivate his magical energy and instead cultivated human martial arts. Could there be something I'm missing?"
After all, the Insect Demon had experienced much and was extremely insightful; after witnessing all that had transpired these past seven, eight days, it had roughly worked out all of Vigilante A's cards. The major advantage of vital energy was that it did not depend on external vitality, and could be converted from food. With this dragon's appetite and innate talent, consuming all the food it needed in one shot was nothing out of the ordinary.
On the other hand, there were no other practical ways to replenish magical energy other than eating a pill made of herbs that were full of vitality, which was expensive to make. Vitality fluctuated violently in battlefields, which made it impossible to calmly meditate to convert vitality into magical energy.
However, when compared on power and application, magical energy was far more superior than vital energy. The Insect Demon guessed that this dragon had probably broken down this barrier, but it couldn't confirm anything as of yet.
The Insect Mother opened her mouth to speak then, "It's fine, no matter how long it can last, it still won't be able to outlast me. I'm the Mother of All Insects, and we've accumulated power for so long."
The Insect Demon nodded its head at first, but when it turned around to see that the Insect Mother's body had reduced to two-thirds of its original size, its eyebrows furrowed together in worry again.
"No, this battle of endurance obviously works in its favor. Although I haven't figured out how it works, one part of his power expends three parts of ours. Because of its Sealed Space, we can't replenish the swarm of Yellowjackets in time either.
"If we were to send out a second Yellowjacket swarm, it would make no difference even if I casted them to surround it and attack, because they'll just be sealed by its Four Symbols Sealing Formation all the same. We'll just be feeding his fire with our oil. Insect Mother, you must now use your Bloodline Connection to push all the currently alive Yellowjackets to their peak, then only can we tip the battle of endurance into our favor and maybe we'll win."
"Okay, I'll do that immediately."
The Insect Demon nodded its head before it confusedly said, "Why did you answer so fast?"
"That's because you agreed to let me become the Dragon Wasp Mother. As long as we're successful, my power of self-protection on this world will increase significantly and I'll no longer have to worry about cultivating from scratch again."
The Insect Demon was finally relieved.
It watched the Insect Mother's massive physique start trembling once again as waves of invisible energy surged out. This time, the chrysalis's massive physique shrank significantly.
Fang Ning maintained Fury Mode while he read the System Notifications that popped up.
[Elite Mutated Giant Yellowjacket was killed.
The System obtained 50 experience points.
Elite Mutated Giant Yellowjacket was killed.
The System obtained 50 experience points.
Elite Mutated Giant Yellowjacket Boss suffered damage of 500 points.
Elite Mutated Giant Yellowjacket Boss transferred damage.
Elite Mutated Giant Yellowjacket was killed.
The System obtained 50 experience points.
Elite Evolved Mutated Giant Yellowjacket Boss suffered damage of 500 points.
Elite Evolved Mutated Giant Yellowjacket Boss healed itself.
After reading everything for a while, Fang Ning felt that something was fishy, "Why are they all suddenly Elite monsters, and there's even Evolved versions too? Is it because only the Elite ones are alive?"
The System answered, "No. The normal ones have evolved into Elites, and the Elites have become Evolved Ones."
"They can evolve on-the-spot? But it's not like they're the leading templates."
"I feel a wave of energy that's replenishing them. This Formation isn't of a very high level, so its spatial barrier can only keep physical things out but it cannot cut off this wave of energy."
"Then other than killing the Boss of this swarm, the Boss that's sending them this energy is deeply hidden and more powerful. It is our true target."
Right after he finished speaking, Fang Ning noticed that the remaining Giant Yellowjackets all glowed with a yellow light. They weren't many of them, but they were no longer passively defending and were instead actively attacking the borders of the Formation space.
Every time one of them hit the border, Fang Ning could feel the Formation Map vibrate slightly. The vibrations grew stronger until it felt like the entire thing would crumble. The barriers formed by the dragon-shaped vital energies were also weakening significantly, as a number of the Yellowjackets were clustering together to ramming the barrier. They were no longer afraid of going near the barrier.
Fang Ning worriedly asked, "Are you holding up okay?"
The System answered, "Not really. Do you really think my vital energy is limitless? I'm only at Level 11 and I have to be responsible for the output of four people. Even if I endlessly convert the nutrition in my body into vital energy, it's already the eighth day. If they didn't evolve I would have been fine, but since they've evolved I can no longer keep up with the huge amount of consumption."
Fang Ning was stunned, "But you're still so relaxed and unworried about it."
"There isn't a lot of them left and they've all fully evolved, so it's time for us to unveil our final card."
In the command post.
"It's happening, it's finally happening! We can finally witness the might of the True Dragon! Record everything properly; power level, aura, feature index, and more. Nothing will go unrecorded."
Everybody watched the screen diligently.
The Flame Dragon appeared in mid-air as the Formation suddenly disappeared.
Despite obtaining freedom after all the torture and death they went through previously, the Yellowjackets showed no signs of escaping. Instead, they clustered together to form an echelon formation, and the rows were neater than even the most disciplined military of the humans.
An unusually-sized Yellowjacket emerged from within the formation, it's body glowing the brightest yellow among all the Yellowjackets. It lingered behind the formation and commanded the rest of the Yellowjackets to take turns attacking the Flame Dragon in groups; despite the massive size difference, the Yellowjackets showed no fear.
However, the Flame Dragon was much agiler than they were. It evaded their rushing attacks easily. Its flair while changing positions were leagues out of even the best E-Sports player.
Despite the multiple sieges from all around from the Yellowjacket swarm, it did not to aid them favorably. When faced with the Flame Dragon in this mid-air battle, they were like grade school students.
Instead, every time they launched an attack, the Flame Dragon would be able to crush a number of Yellowjackets on the peripheral side.
Everybody that was watching the scene unfold on the big screen started contemplating what they would do when faced with a situation like this. The conclusion was simple. Unless they were fighter jet pilots, they could only look after themselves as they were wasted alive by the Yellowjackets.
Leader Xue, who had already mastered the Sword Handling Technique, might be able to perform better, but would he be able to show the same agility as the Flame Dragon in mid-air?
After several rounds of combat, the True Dragon rose up high suddenly, before it suddenly dived towards the back of the Yellowjacket swarm!
Just as the Yellowjacket Boss realized he was in danger and was about to escape, it had already been swallowed by the dragon.
The dragon was no longer standing on ceremony, as it then turned to face Yellowjacket swarm in front of itself, who were still awaiting attack orders, and started sucking in fiercely!
A dust cloud rose immediately as sand and rocks started flying everywhere.
After everything had settled, the screen showed nothing but emptiness.
"That's it?"
Everyone felt a slight disappointment, it was like they had just appeared to serve as a stopgap. They didn't even do much, so they couldn't comment much either.
This moment, one of the crew members passed a note to the temporary Commander of the Command Post, Relentless Swordsman Xue Feng.
After reading the note, Xue Feng immediately commanded, "Order all airborne units that are currently observing the situation to immediately begin searching for any remaining Yellowjackets. None are allowed to escape. Order the on-ground personnel to do the same as well."
Right after he finished giving his orders, he transferred his commanding authority to another person-in-charge and immediately left the command post in a hurry.
Nobody in the room started any more mindless discussions as the truly complicated matters had just begun.
At a villa on a farm on the outskirts of Qi City, a group of workers were busying away. Some of them were cleaning up, while some of them were repairing facilities.
Brett had been spending its days eating and sleeping, it was having the best time of its life since its advent into this world. Not only could it eat and drink to its heart's content, it had someone trimming its fur for it too. It also recently learned to watch videos online from Zheng Dao and a program called "Animal Planet" was what he had to watch daily right after waking up. It was truly living the life…
In Vigilante A's small team, it was probably living the most comfortable life out of everyone. On the other hand, Xue Ba was way more conscious of its own life than Brett was.
Once a dog rests, it was only asking for trouble.
Brett drooled as it watched the screen, which was playing the daily life of a lion and a lioness.
As it watched, it didn't forget to do push ups as training. Halfway through watching, it turned its head to speak to its friend, "I'm so bored, where have the pair of Venerable Ones gone to?"
Xue Ba was reading a book in its lap and it answered without lifting its head, "They must have been out saving the world, unlike you spending your days watching videos online. Look at me read these books on Humanities and Geography daily. After I've familiarized myself with the local situation, all I have to do is wait until Master summons me to help with strategizing."
Brett continued watching shamelessly, "It's not like I want to be so idle. Can't you see I'm doing push ups right now? I've spent my days eating and resting to my heart's content, so my power has returned quite a bit. But Master hasn't brought me with him to the frontline, so I can't contribute even if I wanted to."
"I believe it'll happen soon, so you should enjoy your days of freedom while it lasts. I'm sure you'll be doing a lot of running in the future, and then you'll be losing a lot of fat."
As the pair of dogs continued their conversation, Zheng Dao hurried over in a rush.
Brett didn't even think of changing channels and continued watching. It had long realized that what he was watching was nothing out of the extraordinary for humans, since it could be used for teaching.
"Xue Ba, Master needs your help with an important matter. He's also found a private plane for you, which will be arriving immediately."
Hearing this, Xue Ba immediately put down its book, its eyes glimmering as it turned to throw a look of disdain at Brett, "You see, opportunities only present themselves to dogs who are prepared. Master thought of me when he was faced with a problem, so you can just rot at home obediently…"
Brett glanced down at its own muscular body, which did not sport a single bit of fat. It thought to itself, 'Did Master not call on me because this Zheng Dao fellow has reported my behavior from these past few days to him?'
At the same time, at higher altitudes, the Relentless Swordsman had just crossed thousands of miles in the blink of an eye. His ability wasn't just all talk, as he landed at the location on the note not all long after.
After witnessing the mastery of the Sword Handling Technique, Xue Feng's first rider seemed to be quite excited. The Relentless Swordsman Xue Feng stood on his glimmering sword that hovered a meter above ground as he asked emotionlessly, "Are you Xue Ba?"
Xue Ba answered, "Yes, yes, that's me. Did Master send you to pick me up? Just now Zheng Dao said that an ally would be arriving, did he mean you?"
"If the Master you're referring to is Vigilante A, then get on."
Xue Ba shook its tail violently; it jumped onto the sword eagerly, not a shred of fear in its face.
Xue Feng nodded his head once and with a "whoosh", both man and dog disappeared in the blink of the eye.